In the vein of Thick and The Body Is Not An Apology: an essential look at the ways in which Black women are left out of conversations about diet culture, health, and wellness.
Body narratives are as old as the written word; women’s bodies have been subjected to the spectrum of praise to policing and shame. Nowhere is this more apparent for Black women. As with other fundamental topics, bodies, health, and wellness all have been deeply influenced by white supremacy–which results in very specific harms done to Black women and femmes. An eating disorder specialist, Jessica Wilson unpacks the ways in which whiteness and capitalism have shaped how we view and treat our bodies, and how the contemporary solutions to this continue to center white thin women and erase others. It’s Always Been Ours counters the common idea that eating disorders are about control and thinness, and provide evidence that eating disorders are often about Black women’s survival and safety in a culture that does not care about their wellbeing. From a new perspective on diet culture, to how its perceived antidotes (Health at Every Size, Intuitive Eating) actually perpetuate harm to Black women, Wilson explores her own learning and unlearning about nutrition and health, for a critical, insightful, sharp, and compassionate assessment of how we eat food and view our bodies in society. Building on the work of Isabel Wilkerson (Caste), Sabrina Strings (Fearing the Black Body) and Tressie McMillan Cottom (Thick), It’s Always Been Ours unpacks how whiteness has made it so difficult for Black women to trust the story their body tells or be able to interpret those stories. It is a tour-de-force and a revelation that addresses not only where we are, but how we got here–and offers a reclamation for all Black women, centering Black women in their own healing and prioritizing them in the movement for body liberation.